NBC Press Tour Summer ’16! The Good Place’s William Jackson Harper Reveals His Version of Heaven. Director Kenny Leon on Hairspray’s Relevance Today!

Hey DivaGals, TV Press Tour Summer 2016 is well underway! Our L.A. contributor Patrice Marjorie took a bold step yesterday: she attended her first conference ever, attending the NBC Press Tour yesterday. Of course, she came back with great TV scoop! Check it out below.

I first spoke with William Jackson Harper from The Good Place, NBC’s new series about a woman (Kristen Bell) who finds herself in Heaven in the afterlife. She soon realizes there’s been a big mistake and Heaven called the wrong person up to “the Good Place” (her life choices would have never gotten her into heaven!). This is William’s first lead role on a TV show so he’s super excited for it. When asked his thoughts of Heaven and Hell as a child, he said, when he was 5, he wrote that he imagined Heaven to have “no bees, no mud, no infirmities — yes, I wrote infirmities at 5 — and a lot of apples.” So cute!

Nico Santos from Superstore is an immigrant who moved to the US at 16. He still can’t believe he’s reached this level of success. Superstore co-star Colton Dunn, who plays Garrett, Cloud 9’s intercom “voice of God,” says his on screen character is not far from who is in real life. As a kid, he worked in customer service but hated customers and service! And he gave DivaGals this little nugget: this season we will see Garrett’s love life play out a bit more.

Lastly, I spoke with the one and only Kenny Leon who is set to direct HAIRSPRAY LIVE for NBC. He revealed that Rosie O’Donnell has been cast as the gym teacher. Kenny plans to incorporate today’s social issues into the show and hints that “viewers will see marches taking place, similar to the ones that are happening now.” Not much of Hairspray’s storyline will be changed because a lot of the social issues that take place in HAIRSPRAY, which is set in the sixties, are still very prevalent today.